.d8888b. 888 888 888 888 d88P Y88b 888 888 888 888 Y88b. 888 888 888 888 "Y888b. 888888 8888b. 888d888 888888 888 888 88888b. "Y88b. 888 "88b 888P" 888 888 888 888 "88b "888 888 .d888888 888 888 888888 888 888 888 888 Y88b d88P Y88b. 888 888 888 Y88b. Y88b. .d88P 888 d88P "Y8888P" "Y888 "Y888888 888 "Y888 "Y88888P" 88888P" 888 888 888 .d8888b. .d8888b. .d8888b. .d8888b. d88P Y88b d88P Y88b d88P Y88b d88P Y88b 888 888 888 888 888 888 888 .d88P 888 888 888 888 888 888 .od888P" 888 888 888 888 888 888 d88P" 888 888 888 888 888 888 888" Y88b d88P Y88b d88P Y88b d88P 888888888 "Y8888P" "Y8888P" "Y8888P" [ Start-Up 2000 FAQ/Strategy ] by Ciarán Gorman _____________________ ----------------------------[ General Information ]--------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ -=Author=- Author (Pen Name): CGorman Author (Real Name): Ciarán Gorman Country: Ireland CRP: http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/15853.html Email: cgorman03@hotmail.com -=Game=- Game: Start-Up 2000 Game Platfrom: Windows/DOS Developer: Monte Cristo Publisher: Electronic Arts -=FAQ=- Type of Guide: FAQ/Strategy Guide Version: Final Completion: 100% Date Started: 13:44:19 GMT, 28th April 2002 Date of last update: 21:41:30 GMT, 30th September 2003 -=Copyright=- This FAQ is copyright CGorman (Ciarán Gorman) 2003, and may only be used for non-profitable causes, e.g. Gamefaqs.com. If you want this FAQ, just steal it and I will sue you, because it is to be exclusively hosted through the internet by Gamefaqs, and no other website or affliation, except of course any website I may own. Use of this FAQ through other mediums such as print, is available through nogotiation. Also "Start-Up 2002" is a copyright of Monte Cristo. -=Disclaimer=- This FAQ may contain spoliers, mistakes etc., but any personal loss incured by such is understood to be of your own free will and I hold no resposibility. I will not be held responsible for any financial decisions you may make from this FAQ. -=Email=- Please email me if you have a problem, I strive to answer all valid and decent questions, and add them to my FAQs with credit for the individual who asked the question. But I will not answer any foolish or ignorant questions, I do not have time for such, as I can get up to 20 emails in one day, so please think before you email me, and check out any other FAQs for the answer, and of course read this one fully. ________ ---------------------------------[Contents]--------------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ NB: For those of you using Internet Explorer 5+, by pressing CTRL and F and entering the code, you can skip to a paticular park of the FAQ. The code is formed by taking the number (e.g. 1.1) and adding - and the first letter of the section (e.g. Markets, M). So to get to the Discounting section type: 5.1 - D 1.0.............................................................Introduction 1.1......................................................Version History/Log 2.0..................................................................Markets 2.1.................................................................Products 2.2..........................................................Product Designs 3.0.........................................................Staff Management 3.1.............................................................Staff Morale 3.2..........................................................Staff Effciency 3.3.............................................................Staff Salary 4.0....................................................Researching a Prodect 4.1.....................................................Developing a Prodect 4.2........................................................Testing a Prodect 4.3......................................................Producing a Prodect 4.4........................................................Selling a Prodect 5.0.....................................................The 4 P's to Selling 5.1..............................................................Discounting 5.2...............................................................Promotions 5.3...............................................................Quantities 6.0...........................................................Finance Graphs 6.1.........................................................Getting Money: A 6.2.........................................................Getting Money: B 6.3.........................................................Getting Money: C 7.0..............................................................News Centre 7.1...........................................................Global Network 8.0.......................................Strategy Guide: Telecommunications 8.1..............................................Strategy Guide: Video Games 8.2.................................................Strategy Guide: Cyber-TV 9.0..........................................................Term Dictionary 9.1......................................................................Q&A 9.2.....................................................................Tips 9.3...........................................................Product Faults 9.4...................................................................Cheats 9.5...............................................................Other Help 10.0................................................................Farewell ____________________ ----------------------------[ 1.0 - Introduction ]---------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Start-Up 2000 is a good attempt from Monte Cristo to simulate a Hi-Tech start up, a good attempt - but only for the truely die hard business simulators. The main problem with the game is that, it can feel small and that you run out of things to do - thats if you bother your head taking it out of the box. So my aim is to help you realise the bit of entertainment hidden away in this - mainly by letting you pass the first level... Ciarán Gorman ___________________________ -------------------------[ 1.1 - Version History/Log ]------------------------ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Version: 1.0 Completion: 55% Date/Time: 13:44:19 GMT, 28th April 2002 - Wrote the important bits, but still lacking the intense detail I hope for in the next few updates. Version: 0.87 Completion: 87% Date/Time: 16:22:00 GMT, 13th July 2002 - Nice update, decided to change layout a bit and change the guides status from a FAQ/Walkthrough to a FAQ/Stratgey guide as I am finally beginning to think about what I write and why - unlike my newbie style two months ago, were I jotted down the controls made 100 line fillers and no content in the hope of looking great! Also added a lot more information. Version: 0.99 Completion: 99% Date/Time: 20:59:17 GMT, 19th July 2002 - An update spurred by an email! Anyways added information on the "Global Network." Also a few pieces here and there like Q&A addition etc. I'm almost certain I have everything covered, but just in case, I will not declare this the final version. Version: 0.995 Completion: 99.5% Date/Time: 17:15:00 GMT, 23th July 2002 - Question: Will I EVER finish this FAQ? Answer: Only when it has a Full Blue Dot. Solution: Keep improving FAQ. Well i'm hoping this to be the last update before I declare this FAQ Final. So basicaly I am fiddling with the strategy section and those sort. Version: Final Completion: 100% Date/Time: 22:45:40 GMT, 30th July 2002 - Ok the last version contain very little new information, and this contains none, I have no reason to add any more because the FAQ is final, finished, complete!!! Version: Final Completion: 100% Date/Time: 21:41:30 GMT, 30th October 2002 - Just a few minor changes, mainly formating. _______________ -----------------------------[ 2.0 - Markets ]-------------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ In "Start-Up 2000," there are 5 markets which you can trade in, they are as follows: -=North America=- Colour/Symbol: Blue Regions: Canada, Mexico and the USA. Information/Notes: Despite being a hugh economic powerhouse in real life, the states seem to be tougher in the game, they are more competitive, require larger marketing budgets, and in general the market has little growth in the many years you may compete in it. A key note to remember is that price is generally more important than technology in this market. -=European=- Colour/Symbol: Orange Regions: All of Western Europe. Information/Notes: Like the US, Europe is a tough market, favoring the large companies with a medium price range and a decent technology rating. Marketing budgets are also quite important here as it is also a competitive market at the early stages of the game. -=Pacific=- Colour/Symbol: Green Regions: Japan, Austrailia, Korea, etc. Information/Notes: Probaly the only market to be generally the same as its real life counterpart, here technolodgy rules and money is not a problem, you can do with a medium marketing budget as long as you are quick to market, and have a good technology rating. And the Asian economy seems to have a fair bit of growth in the games time frame. -=Emerging=- Colour/Symbol: Yellow Regions: Africa, China, Eastern Europe, India, South America, South East Asia etc. Information/Notes: My favorite market, and that of any capitalist! High prices, low budgets, low technology and hugh volume! Send a couple here, double the normal price and slash the shops cut - and watch the cash come in! -=Internet=- Colour/Symbol: @ Region: Everywhere Information/Notes: To succeed on the web you should charge the mean average of all your prices here (p1+p2+p3+p4/4 = mean average) and offer a decent cut to web retailers as well as a healthy marketing budget etc., if you get the figures right this can be both your biggest revenue producer (inportant for IPO's) and also your biggest profit generator (important for - everything!) ________________ -----------------------------[ 2.1 - Products ]------------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ During the course of the game you can sell 3 different products. They are as follows: -=Mobile Phones=- Level: Easy Information: During the course of this type of game you will sell video phones and create applications for video phones. -=Video Consoles=- Level: Medium Difficulty Information: The most fun type of game, you sell game consoles with features like internet 56Kb modems etc. You make most money from video game roylties. -=Cyber-T.V=- Level: Hard Difficulty Information: You must complete the other two to play this, it is just interactive TV really, no rush to get there. _______________________ --------------------------[ 2.2 - Product Designs ]--------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Throughout the game, product designs can really be important, you can get new features to add to your product from research. Before you start production you can set your product design, when doing so you will be able to choose between several different components in 4 different catogorys, differing from product to product. ________________________ --------------------------[ 3.0 - Staff Management ]-------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ You can hire, fire and assign staff by exiting your office and going into your departments, try to always get the right person, i.e. don't go hiring a $50,000 sales staff who is really lazy, try to hire a $27,000 sales staff with a lot of logic. The following is a list of staff members and their dutie's: -=R&D Dept.=- = Researcher, discovers new technologies, and components, quite important if your a tech company (which you are.) = Developer, irons out new technologies and prepares them for the tester, again an important role. = Tester, you can assign any member of staff to test a product. The longer a product is in testing, the more reliable it becomes. -=Production Dept.=- = All staff, work machines and pack products. -=Marketing Dept.=- = PR Staff, these members of staff get your name out there and manage [P]ublic [R]elations. = Sales Staff, these are the people who get the contracts, as you enter new markets you can add staff to that market by duplicting a desk. = Hotline Staff, these are your after-sales staff, if you don't have a good number of well trained hotline staff, you will never be popular. -=Administration Dept.=- = Human Resources, makes sure you get the very BEST staff around, so you should get the best possible people for this job. = Accountants, there 100% useFUL (for once) so get good ones, they will keep your books in order. = Finance, will help you get a good name with the bank and keep the investors happy. ____________________ ---------------------------[ 3.1 - Staff Morale ]----------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Staff morale is really important in this game, because good staff can leave at the flick of a switch, so heres some counter measures: 1) Don't over work any member of staff, even if you need to, they will become less efficent, more costly, and more anger, until they eventually leave. 2) Raise salerys on a regular basis, maybe ever 5 months or so, you don't have to give 1,000's away, just a couple 100 dollers per employee. 3) Try to keep your coffee lounges in a good state. 4) Don't understaff departments, too few staff can place a lot of stress on the other employees. _______________________ --------------------------[ 3.2 - Staff Effciency ]--------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ I just want to say one or two things about staff effciency, it will take approximitly three years to double their effciency, this raises a very important point, is'nt a person who starts with 23 going to gain 23 while a person who starts with 40 will gain 40 - over the same time frame? Yes is the answer, so thats why you really should do your best to get even 1 or 2 percentiale points more on each staff member you hire. The only influnce on staff effciency growth is their morale so regular salary increases are well justified. ____________________ ---------------------------[ 3.3 - Staff Salary ]----------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ I have mentioned plenty on staff so far - except the most important thing - the bottom line. Your staff need to be paid fairly but chances are that you are paying over the odds. The following are a few rules I think are worth noting: o Your staff will always want more money and will sometimes quit if unhappy, but remember that an employee does not soly need wages, they need security, they will only feel this if you have a nice growing company, so if you are bleeding money - you may be bleeding staff soon. The second thing they need other than money is a nice work enviorment, so a nice coffee lounge is not out of your budget. o If you have exhasted the above options and your staff are still unhappy despite their nice salarys, here is my method of paying for staff: When hiring someone, look firstly at two things 1# have they got a nice attitude, and 2# are their wages less than their efficency, e.g. efficency = 23% wages = $22,000 From that day on keep there wages directly inline with their efficency, and never fall behind or go ahead on that figure, they will be happy always because they were originaly getting asalary which was not constantly getting bigger. _____________________________ -----------------------[ 4.0 - Researching a Prodect ]------------------------ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ The first step to a product is researching the different components, I usually recommend getting as high a standard as possible, before developing a product. ____________________________ ------------------------[ 4.1 - Developing a Prodect ]------------------------ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ After researching a new product component, design the component layout of the particuliar item and start developing, if you want you can simply use an already designed component from another company. _________________________ -------------------------[ 4.2 - Testing a Prodect ]-------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Try always to spend as long as possible testing products, because not only doe's it increase the stated reliabilty of a product, but also can get rid of extremely harmful glichs, which can be fatal if publicaly released, because you will have to have a costly product recall, and dent your reputation. ___________________________ ------------------------[ 4.3 - Producing a Prodect ]------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Once the go ahead for a product has been given, the machines on the production floor will start operating, if you don't have any, here they are: JohnDear300C ~ The JohnDear has a severly limited production number, but is far cheaper to buy and run. I would only use this type for your first two years. USGizmo1024H ~ The USGizmo is far quicker with a higher capacity, but of course is extremely expensive to buy and run. I would never use before i'm producing 15,000 units plus. _________________________ --------------------------[ 4.4 - Selling a Prodect ]------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ To sell a product you need two things, A) a marketing budget, B) a sales staff! You can also adjust the selling price for each market as you like. I would recommend NOT to have the same price everywhere, as you can get twice as much sold for twice the price in some markets with low competition. There are two main methods for pricing products, number one is if its a low quility product, you can sell cheap, whereas if its a high quility product you can order that new gold credit card! I would usually have a high priced product early on, as people will pay more to get the latest. Whereas at two years in I would be selling far more cheaply to the general masses. ____________________________ -------------------------[ 5.0 - The 4 P's to Selling ]----------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ The four P's to selling are: [1] Product: if you don't have a good product, whos going to buy it. [2] Price: the price of a product should reflect the quility of it, but at the beginning of the game, you don't have a hugh choice, so I recommmend starting at around $350 - $400 range. [3] Pipeline: your pipelines, are the stores that sell your product, they will only stock your product if you are well known, offer a large discount and/or have lots of promotions. [4] Promotion: you will need to constantly have promotions to sell products, more so in the second year. ___________________ ----------------------------[ 5.1 - Discounting ]----------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ To get people to stock your product you need to give them a reason, and that reason is profit, you can't sell a product to a store for $200 and then tell them to sell it for $201. So thats why a -fair- discount is given. You can have different discounts in different markets depending on the product price. I would always have 30 - 35% discount. Although that only reflects my beliefs. __________________ -----------------------------[ 5.2 - Promotions ]----------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ To help sell products it is clever to have promotions, you do not directly control promotions, but your marketing budget doe's so the more money spent on marketing, the more promotions carried out. There are three types of promotions, they are: Demo Site: This is a free sample of a product, mainly involved with selling video games. Display Stand: This is just a stand near the entrance for only your product. Checkout Ad: Just a simple ad at the checkout. Poster: Well why not plaster all your retailers stores with full scale ads? __________________ -----------------------------[ 5.3 - Quantities ]----------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ The following is a basic chart showing the different quantities you will expect to sell during the game and the short of people you will sell to. It is an extract from the game guide and is quite important. More /|\ THE TORNADO | /\ | / \ | / \ | / \ | / \ | / \ | / \ | THE EARLY MARKET / \ | / \ | ______________ / \ | / \ / \ | / \ / | / \/ \|/>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>TIME>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Less Technology The Pragmatists Conservatives Skeptics Euthusisasts Chasm & Visionaries During the Early Market, the product appeals essentially to technology enthusiasts and visionaries a bit like the PC during its early days or the internet in 1994. After that comes a period that is dreaded by most start-ups, the Chasm. Volumes stumble because the product has yet to be adopted by the mainstream market. Customers are not sure which technology will become standard, are not confident of the reliability of the product and or/find that prices are still too high. Companies that survive the Chasm and demonstrate sufficient manufacturing capablities, product quality and the right prices will then benefit from the Tornado effect: an orgy of success with tremendous voloume growth and profit explosion. At this point a start-up needs a coherent, well-tested product and should refrain from launching new versions too often for this will only confuse the coustomers. Pagmatists believe in new technologies but they want proved products, not gadgets. They want to make sure that their investment will pay off. The conservatives have no praticular interest in technology and will buy only when a product has been widely accepted by the market. The last people to buy a product are the skeptics (those, for example, who do not yet have a computer at home). These people are usually wary of new technologies until they have become so widespread that it is virtually impossible to live without them. The market will then slowly decline until the next technological breakthrough. ______________________ --------------------------[ 6.0 - Finance Graphs ]---------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ There are four financal charts in the game, they are as follows: [A] Turnover/Net Earnings: this chart showns how much profit and turnover you had in the last month. [B] Cash Assets: this chart shows your "cash at hand." [C] Stock Price/Stock Index: This is a chart showing your companys share price (if you are listed on the stock market) and the stock markets points. [D] Units Sold: This is the number of units sold. -=Ideal Graph figures=- The ideal state of your graphs is to have: Turnover - high Net Earnings - high, prferably directly porportionate to your turnover at a constant rate or better, i.e. if your turnover is $5,000,000 and profits $500,000 at one point you will later want the same gap (profits are a tenth of turnover) at later stages when you are making $10,000,000 turnover and preferably $1,000,000 profits or better. Cunfused? Cash Assets - high Stock Price - rising Stock Index - rising - but not high because your stock usually follows the index up or down, so you don't want to hit your peak straight away unless you can deliver very good figures and shoot the price of your stock higher and even the entire index if your big enough! Units Sold - high ________________________ --------------------------[ 6.1 - Getting Money: A ]-------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ There are three main methods of getting finance, the first one being a commercial bank loan. You can borrow according to your cash assets, you can only borrow from the "Learing Bank." I would not recommend borrowing heavily unless you *need* the cash. ________________________ --------------------------[ 6.2 - Getting Money: B ]-------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ The second way to get money is to go to your venture capitalist (VC) he will give you money for a percentage of your company. This is a very dangerous way of getting finance, as if you give too much of the company away, you will lose out at an IPO, by having less of a company to sell. Nick Pyles is your VC. ________________________ --------------------------[ 6.3 - Getting Money: C ]-------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ The thrid method of raising money is, through an IPO, it is both the riskist, and most rewarding. You will need a monthly turnover of at least $8,000,000 and $1,000,000 cash for fees to be listed on the stock exchange. You can sell up to 99% of the company on the stock market, but if you sell over 50% you are no longer the majority shareholder and can be kicked out if you return poor results. Also you will only be able to sell the stake you did'nt sell to the VC. ___________________ ----------------------------[ 7.0 - News Centre ]----------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ The news centre is on your news terminal and is just a way of accessing messages, from different people, along with market news and competitors. If you pay attention to it you will be rewarded from time to time with important news like the Asian economy is the place to be, or you should have a recall or some other bit of news. ______________________ ---------------------------[ 7.1 - Global Network ]--------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ The global network provides you with information on competitor advertising, product quility etc., it is also avialable at the news terminal. It is a very important piece of equipment as you can see the top advertisers, best technology prodects etc. The following are the different statistics meanings. They can be expressed in different markets. -=Advertising=- This list indicates the total advertising spend of each company in percentaile terms. -=Public Relations=- This is a measure of the public relations, usually in line with other indicators like Advertising or Facing. -=Promotions=- This is a measure of the different competitors promotions, it is very important for judging your position. -=Facing=- Another important indicator, it is the publics overall preseption of your company and its products. -=Customer Service=- Not as important as the previous two, but worth taking a note of. -=Reliability=- Another very important market indicator, you will value this as an important list when starting as the first buyers of your product will want reliability. -=Market Share=- This is the MOST important indicator, it shows your market share in each market. -=Technics=- This is your companys technology ranking, the higher the better. __________________________________________ -----------------[ 8.0 - Strategy Guide: Telecommunications ]----------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ -=General Wakthrough=- Telecommunications is by far the easist product you can sell, so use it to get a feel for the game. The first thing to do is design your product, you are better off to buy in your components at the beginning. You won't really be able to get a quality product for a while ...but nither will your competitors. You can start hiring researchers in the second month, make one of your aims battery power, as this is an important factor in this market. You can also start to hire an administration staff in the second or third months. By month four or five you should have something researched, be careful NOT to add it to your product until you have at least three upgrades, you should have those about month seven. Up until month seven, try to increase production capacity above 20,000 units, without using USGizmo 1024H's. At the year end you should be in ALL markets. Also at year end it is time to launch your new product. After that you will be near enough to your goal, an IPO. -=Tips/Strategys=- o Watch out for the Chasm, since this is your first market, you will not expect it, remember if your sales fall that does not mean theres a chasm, if both your compeitors and your sales fall then that does mean theres a chasm. o As everyone knows Japan is the worlds telecomunnications home - so keep an eye on that market and see how often things change, what are the prices etc., because what happens in Japan will happen 1 year later world wide. o Try clearing this section more than once, you will understand things better for latter games if you do. ___________________________________ --------------------[ 8.1 - Strategy Guide: Video Games ]--------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ -=General Wakthrough=- The video games market is far harder than the telecommunications market, so you need to launch a very high standard product at the beginning. You can spend your first four months, hiring staff, increasing production capacity, researching components etc., but the big stuff won't start for a while. Your game console probably won't sell more than 6,000 a month at the beginning, thats until you sign a few games. The first thing you would need is to sign a decent game, not blockbuster or trash, as you develop you will get huge numbers of applications. Never sigh a boring game like darts2000 as this will make your company look old fashioned and anyways you will get very few roltitys from a boring game. You can launch your upgraded console fully equiped with inhouse technology, half way through the second year. After that you will be fine. -=Tips/Strategys=- o There is very little "real" money in selling game consoles so sell them at a little over cost price because you will earn your fortune from game rolyties. o Don't go for an IPO at $8,000,000 turnover, wait for $15,000,000 in this game because you will get far more and since your selling at cost price and aiming to make your money from roylties, there might be a dry spell so every penny is vital. o I know I said that you should earn your money from rolyties and I stand by that - just remember that the rolyties will not be big for year 1 or 2, but after that your in the money. ________________________________ ----------------------[ 8.2 - Strategy Guide: Cyber-TV ]---------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ -=General Wakthrough=- First of all you can't play this, until you complete the other two and the tutorial. Once you start playing you will see why, it is the hardest of them all and requires a good manager, you. The first thing to do, is to launch a basic product, no fancy stuff, and see how you do, try entering as many markets early on, but focus on your home markets and the internet. You can build up a good regular sales for the first year, and the first six months of the second year, but after that you MUST launch a new updated product. Again once the second product has been launched you will easily glide into an IPO. -=Tips/Strategys=- o Unlike Videophones, Cyber-TV really is a new thing so you can afford to spend heavily on research, because with Videophones the market had already begun to see what the it is, were as with Cyber-TV, they will want to know a bit more, that leads me to my second point, a large public relations budget is important. o Like with most new products, you can charge over the odds for them, because if a techie person walks into a shop and sees a unheard of product that is nice and shiny, he will be running to his bank manager within the hour. _______________________ ---------------------------[ 9.0 - Term Dictionary ]-------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ The following is a quick explenation for words used in the manual, game and this FAQ: Pipeline = This is just basic distribution. IPO = Initial Public Offering, this is when you launch on the stock exchange. Net Earnings = This is your profit after costs. Turnover = This is the amount of money you received excluding costs. VC = Venture Capitalist, this is the person who finances your company at the beginning. R&D = Research and Development. PR = Public Relations. The Chasm = A low point in the market. The Tornado = The peak of the market ___________ ---------------------------------[ 9.1 - Q&A ]-------------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ Q: The manual says theres a Tutorial Mode, but there seems to be none in my game? A: You probably have an older version of the game, as it is called "Try-Out," on some versions of the game. Q: My marketing budget keeps changing without my conset, whats wrong? A: When ever a new marketing staff member is added, the budget is changed to reflect the new staff member. Q: Why can't I float on the stock exchange. A: You must have a MONTHLY turnover of at least $8,000,000 before floation on the stock exchange. Q: The sound, sound's different and is not functioning well. A: If the sound is not playing well, check that there's at least 10 MB still available for Windows on your hard disk (generally on the C: drive) and close any other applications open at the same time on your computer. Q: The game still won't install, even though I have 90 MB? A: All space must be uncompressed. Q: how come the game ended suddenly saying I was bankqurpt? A: If you spend too long with negative cash assents, you will be forced out of business and brought to court for not meeting your financiers (VC) agreement. Q: (The following was a real email question) "How can I affect reliability in the global network? - sometimes it goes up, then after a few months it goes down to zero. A: Your reliability is determined firstly by the lenght of time you spent testing the product, but is affected later by the fact that it is ageing, while competitors may have launch new products far more reliabile bringing yours down or finially you may have relaunched a product or launched a new one. - No.1 ____________ ---------------------------------[ 9.2 - Tips ]------------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ [1] Don't let the venture capitalists gain to much control, because if you only have 51% left when you float on the stock exchange, you won't really get as much as you should. [2] Treat your employees well, they can leave very suddenly if they are unhappy with your company. [3] If you won't to drastically lower overheads, produce components in-house, it can really make a product cheaper. [4] Don't enter new markets too soon, each new market costs $1,000,000 to enter. ______________________ ----------------------------[ 9.3 - Product Faults ]-------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ So far I have not discovered any faults in this game, if you discover any please e-mail me and I will add them. ______________ -------------------------------[ 9.4 - Cheats ]------------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ I have never recommended using cheats in any game, and I'm not now, but since this is meant to be a FULL FAQ, I will list any verified ones. [1] More Money: When taking out a loan, ask for $666.00, and you will recieve $5,000,000 instead, your outstanding loan will not change and your maximum loan will remain the same. So far I have not found any side-effects. __________________ -----------------------------[ 9.5 - Other Help ]----------------------------- ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ If this game has not solved your problems, try some of the following: [1] The readme file, the obvious help source. [2] The manual, again obvious. [3] http://www.montecristogames.com may be of some use. If you discover any other sites with information, please email them to me as I need a few facts myself. _________________ -----------------------------[ 10.0 - Farewell ]------------------------------ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ -=Farewell=- Anyways, thanks again for reading this FAQ, it is important that it is of benifit to anyone who reads it, so if you have a note, comment, suggestion, please email me at the above address and I will try to add it as soon as possible along with full credit as expected. Thanks Ciarán Gorman. -=Credits=- o I really can't give CjayC enough credit, he really has changed my life and many others, he has created a community of several hundred thousned different people from all over the globe, united in one love, gaming, he has given every one of these recognition for their work, and a place well kept to share knowledge, thats why I'm dedicating this FAQ to CjayC a really great person. o The development team at Monte Cristo, although it is'nt as glamourous making a business game, as it is making another sequel to a blockbuster like Tomb Raider, they really have put a lot of effort into this game, dispite the knowledge that it would probable never shift more than a few thousned copies as opposed to several million, from a blockbuster. o Myself, well I did write this FAQ, anyways I really find it hard to give credit to myself, so thats why i've only given myself two lines. o You. You are the one I wrote this for, so thanks for reading it, I really hope it enlightened you (even a bit) to this somewhat cunfusing game. o To all the other FAQ writers who are a constant inspriation. Thanks. -=Contributors=- - "theweeman" for the money cheat. - Mario Villacorta for asking a question (marked No.1). - Copyright CGorman 2003